The invention relates to refrigerator cases. More particularly, the invention relates to coil configurations and routing in open-front cases.
Refrigerated cases (generically including both freezers and refrigerator-only units) are used in a variety of commercial situations. One key use is for retail display and vending. Many such cases include a closed rear wall and either an open front or a glass door front. U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,372, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein as if set forth at length, discloses an exemplary open-front refrigerated case configuration.
Providing a forced air flow through the compartment of such cases is important for a number of reasons. Maintaining the desired food temperature in view of exposure to room air is an important factor. Moisture transport is another (e.g., to control undesirable condensation). One common forced flow scheme involves a cold air curtain downwardly discharged from a front top area of the compartment. A return flow is drawn through an intake at the bottom front of the compartment.
The return flow may be drawn across a cooling heat exchanger (e.g., evaporator coils), typically in a base of the case. The cooled air passes upward through a rear duct at the back of the compartment. The cooled air then passes forward through a top duct. at the front of the top duct, the air is turned downward by turning vanes to form the air curtain. The rear and top ducts may respectively be defined between rear and top insulated panels and non-insulated rear and top duct panels along the rear and top of the compartment.